Impact of Toll Plazas Road Marking and Signs on Drivers’ Behaviour

Abstract

The paper presents the problem of applying non-typical marking and signs (not included in Polish traffic control guidelines) as a mean to improve traffic performance and safety in Poland. The need for use of such marking and signs was evaluated based on the observed drivers’ behaviour supported by literature study. The results of these analyses confirmed that making the correct decisions by drivers can be difficult and may cause safety hazards, especially in the areas of toll plazas on motorways, which are characterized by a high degree of complexity of traffic organization resulting from various payment system (manual and electronic) and high speed. Studies of non-typical road marking and signs were conducted using surveys and empirical research on drivers’ behaviour, which can be surrogate measures in assessing road safety. The outcome of research confirmed the usefulness of the developed method of the survey for assessing the non-typical marking and signs. Studies have shown that non-typical signs may lead to cognitive deformations, i.e., interpretation of their meaning which is not always consistent with the sender’s intention.